Entries in Steven Soderberg
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Warner Bros.(LOS ANGELES) -- Contagion proved contagious this weekend, ousting the hit adaptation The Help from the top spot on the weekend box office.

Contagion grossed $23.1 million in its opening weekend, assisted by favorable reviews and an all-star cast. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard were among the actors in the Steven Soderbergh thriller.

The Help took silver in the weekend box office, with $8.7 million, followed by Warrior in third.

Michael Tran/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) -- The Oscar-winning director behind the movies Traffic, Erin Brockovich, and Ocean's Eleven and its sequels says he’s planning to retire from filmmaking. In an interview that aired Friday on Public Radio International's Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, Steven Soderbergh said he's done with Hollywood and will retire from filmmaking after he completes two final movies.

In the interview, the 48-year-old Soderbergh says, "When you reach the point where you're like, 'If I have to get into a van to do another scout I'm just going to shoot myself,' it's time to let somebody else who’s still excited about getting into the van, get into the van."

The director reveals that "for the last three years" he's been turning down everything that comes his way, adding the Nixonian comment, "So you're not going to have Steven Soderbergh to kick around anymore."

Soderbergh won an Oscar as best director for the 2000 film Traffic. That same year, he received a second best director nomination, for the film Erin Brockovich. Soderbergh also received an Academy Award nomination in 1990 for best screenplay for his breakthrough movie, Sex, Lies and Videotape.

He says his final two movies are one about the life of Liberace, starring Matt Damon and Michael Douglas, and a big-screen version of the 1960s TV spy series Man from U.N.C.L.E., starring George Clooney.